On tap at Hair of the Dog, pours a deep dark mahogany with just a few bubbles for head. Aroma of rich cherries, liqueur, and candied sugar. Flavour is extremely rich and decadent, full of treacle toffee, caramel, candied sugar, and cherries - minimal notice of the barrels. Quite sweet, yet not cloying. The wood is barely apparent. Wonderful stuff in small quantities.

On tap at the brewery. Pours a murky red brown color with no head. A big super sweet nose, some yeast and cherries, toffee, heat. The flavor is more cherries, super sweet barrel and malts, intense brew. Very thin palate, no carbonation really. Slick, very sugary even a hint of smoke. This pushes like Matt, AFTW and other HOTD beers to a super sweet strong ale category. As such, it is a damn good beer!

Tap at Hair of the Dog, Portland. Colour is brownish red with almost no head. Aromas and flavours: Fruits, berries, cherries, yeast?, hints of alcohol, sweetness and some chocolate. Way too sweet for me.

Reddish purple, no head. smells like bourbon and vanilla and cherry. Taste is pretty much the same, bu very well blended and smooth, with hints of molasses and caramel, plus a hint of fresh bread. Obviously a very big beer, and Iím glad I only got a 3 oz pour, but it was really tasty.

Draft at hotd. Pours a dark opaque ebony with no head or lace. Big peaty meaty malty nose, showing bourbon and a bit of oak and cherries. But mostly heavy malt. Thick sticky still body. Peat, meat, black olives, cherry, and vanilla on the mid palate. Long earthy finish.

Nose is sweet with lots of Fred showing through some sweet cherries, slight oxidation as well as a touch of alcohol. Pours golden red, thinnish off white head. The flavor is sweet with honey, pears, grains, lots of cherry - light oak notes, alcohol for sure. Big full bodied. Soft odxidized flavors as well. Cherry is interesting, might become a touch medicinal at points due to the big sweet base beer body, but I enjoyed it. Solid and unique.

On tap at the tasting room. Pours a dark, deep cherry red - pretty much indistinguishable from Cherry Adam. Pretty much no head, appears flat except for a small amount of bubbles at the top. Aroma is deep oak with some cherry and alcohol. I get bourbon out of this but itís probably just the intense vanilla and wood as I donít think this was in bourbon barrels. The cherries and oak in this have pretty much covered up the original Fred, making this seem extremely similar to Cherry Adam. Flavor is surprisingly drinkable, smooth even. Alcohol is hidden well. Wine-like fruitiness and complexity. I think I prefer the Cherry Adam at this point but this is still excellent if not completely different.

On tap at Bottleworks. I canít say that this was a win. Dark, dense, nearly black body, with a strange ruby/pink highlights around the top. It is much darker than expected. Itís look pretty good, for a barley wine. This beer is insanely sweet smelling. Lots of vanilla, hints of cherry, and tiny bits of fudge and chocolate cake coming through. Bits of the Fred base come through, but, as others feel, Fred is a little too sweet for my liking. Not really picking up the oak on this one. There are interesting dimensions here, but nothing great. Iím not really digging the flavor. Itís a little too sweet for me. Lots of vanilla, chocolate, fudge, and chocolate cake. A subtle cherry tartness pokes through, but it lasts only for a second. For $10 a glass, this stuff is a bit much. The cherries donít feel like they belong in this beer. As BVC said, I, personally, prefer the Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam from the Wood. Interesting experiment that turned out a very, very sweet barley wine. Itís a little too much for me. Damn nice texture.

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